He took only one-half of yesterday’s vote. _ Spell out simple fractions and hyphenate them.
_ For an easier read, when numbers are written side by side, write one as a numeral and the other as a word. “I heard she owned one hundred and thirty-five diamond rings.” Do this when the number is used alone and when used in combination with other numbers. _ Hyphenate compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine. One hundred and fifteen waiters applied for the job. _ Spell out numbers that start a sentence. If spelling creates something awkward, rewrite. _ Use first, second, third and so on rather than firstly, secondly, thirdly unless your character would use this odd construction as part of her style. _ Use full-size letters, not superscript, to mark ordinal numbers (st, nd, rd, th) written as numerals. Note the letter D in both hundre dth and thousan dth. The only odd ordinals are those using fives- fifth and fifteenth. Sixth thirtieth (thirty-first, thirty-second, and so on) Or the restaurant is on 129th Street, not One hundred and twenty-ninth Street. (Newspapers and military publications may have different conventions.)Ī restaurant would be on Fifth Avenue, not 5th Avenue. We’d write the Eighty-second Airborne Division but the 101st Airborne Division. Ordinal numbers are often used to show relationship and rank. _ Spell out ordinal numbers through one hundred as well-even for military units and street names. “How many thousands of lies have you told?” The knight had died four hundred years earlier.īut-The knight had died 418 years earlier. The forces at Wilmington were bolstered by the arrival of ten thousand fresh soldiers. (Your characters may have reason to say or think all manner of odd numbers, so yes, zero thousand might come up, even though this isn’t a common usage in our 3-D lives.) _ Spell out these same numbers (0-100) even if they’re followed by hundred or thousand. The witch offered Snow White 1 crisp, dewy apple. The rock-a-thon lasted for just over 113 hours. The witch offered Snow White one crisp, dewy apple.īobby Sue sang thirty-two songs before her voice gave out. While this is the standard, there are definitely exceptions to this one. Use numerals for most numbers beyond one hundred. You could also make a style choice to spell out almost all numbers, even if that conflicts with this and other rules. You could argue for zero through nine, as is recommended for AP style, but do note that the recommendations in the Associated Press Stylebook are primarily for newspaper and magazine writing. _ Spell out numbers from zero through one hundred.
#Should iwrite short stories or novel manual
If you want to flout the rules, do so for a reason and do so consistently every time that same reason is applicable in the manuscript.įor a comprehensive list of the rules concerning numbers, check out the Chicago Manual of Style or another style guide. And style choices sometimes get to stomp all over the rules. Yet we’re talking fiction here, not a treatise or dissertation or scientific finding. Keep in mind that there are always exceptions. For the most part, you’ll want to stick to the standards to make the read smooth and easy for the reader and create consistency within the manuscript. I’m just going to list the rules here, without much explanation, laying out those that you’ll typically make use of in a novel. This article covers a few common specifics of using numbers and numerals in fiction. Or maybe we should call all these rules conventions.
#Should iwrite short stories or novel how to
We’ve got rules and standards for everything we include in our novels-how to start those novels, how to increase tension, how to introduce characters, how to format, what to include in dialogue, how to punctuate dialogue, what to exclude from the first chapter. Januby Fiction Editor Beth Hill last modified September 9, 2015
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